Description

The American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences (AABSS) holds an annual conference that brings together scholars from around the U.S. and abroad in order to present scholarship related to a wide variety of contexts, including theory, practice, empirical research, and conceptual advancement. It is a juried conference, meaning that presentation proposals undergo peer-review prior to potential acceptance for presentation. We are in the 19th annual year and expect a robust conference with ample opportunities to exchange theoretical ideas, share research results, help advance practice, make collaborative connections, and learn from one another’s scholarship.

Organizations

Conference Speakers

Keynote Address" The role of Scholarship in Potential Faculty Mobility" will be presented by Beverly J. O'Bryant, Ph.D.

Beverly J. O’Bryant, Ph.D., is past President of the American Counseling Association (ACA) and currently serves as Founding Dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Coppin State University. She is the former Assistant to the Provost for Graduate Studies and Research, Director of the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership and Research Director of the National Minority Male Health Project at Bowie State University. Dr. O’Bryant is a licensed professional counselor (LPC) and the past President of the Association for Multicultural Counseling Development (AMCD) and American School Counselor Association (ASCA). She has appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America, the CBS Morning Show, and a PBS Special on New Visions for Guidance. Dr. O’Bryant received her B.A. in Elementary Education from Dunbarton College, and a M.A. degree in Counseling and her Ph.D. in Counselor Education from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Address summary: While some scholars remain at a single institution and/or position through the duration of their respective careers, others make moves for a variety of reasons. Sometimes this process involves moving in (the first appointment), moving up (faculty promotions within the institution), moving back (returning to academe after a hiatus), moving over (parallel positions), moving up and out (recruited as a rising star), and moving diagonal (administration). Some occasions exist when faculty moves are deliberate and calculated while, in other instances, the moves are necessitated by events beyond the faculty member’s control or foresight. In the present keynote address, Dr. O’Bryant makes a case that—while faculty should not necessarily plan to move during their time in higher education, they should nonetheless be prepared to move—if life circumstances at some point warrant doing so. The role of scholarship plays a significant role in how prepared faculty members are to make such potential moves. Possessing a robust, active scholarship record helps to keep faculty from becoming “trapped” in their present educational settings. It is one thing choosing to remain at the same institution and/or position over the course of one’s career and it is another to remain because the faculty member becomes “stuck,” and cannot move—even if he/she desires to do so. Dr. O’Bryant makes the point in the present address that faculty members should possess scholarship productivity to levels such that mobility is a potential future option, even if the option is never initiated. Faculty may later regret meeting the minimal or even adequate scholarship requirements for present tenure, promotion, or other appraisals at their current institutions. That is, in hindsight, some faculty may later find they sold themselves short, due to not having taken the longer-view regarding their scholarship productivity. Nobody can foresee the future and faculty never know when, around the corner or a number of years down the road, mobility may be desirable. Dr. O’Bryan makes a case that faculty should set scholarship bars for themselves so they not only meet the adequate requirements at their present institutions, but also that can set themselves up well for potential future mobility. There is some truth to the business-world adage: “Don’t dress for your current position but, rather, dress for the position that you desire to have.” Similarly, faculty not only should develop a publication record that is apt for their present position—but also for positions they may end up desiring to attain in the future. In the present keynote address, Dr. O’Bryant shares data from the research literature, examples from case studies, and insights from her own personal experiences that make a case for faculty members enhancing their future potential mobility by developing and maintaining quality scholarship profiles. She addresses tenure requirements across various types of higher education institutions, typical scholarship expectations for individuals with potential administrative ambitions, tenure and promotion transferability, R-1 level scholarship expectations, and some practical suggestions for how faculty potentially might enhance their mobility-prospects over time.